NHL schedules first regular season network primetime game since 1974

The Maple Leafs and Red Wings will play in the 2014 Winter Classic. (Dave Reginek/Getty Images) The Saturday, March 1, 2014, game between the Pittsburgh

The Maple Leafs and Red Wings will play in the 2014 Winter Classic. (Dave Reginek/Getty Images)

The Saturday, March 1, 2014, game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks at Soldier Field will be aired on NBC at 8 p.m. ET — the first scheduled network primetime broadcast for the league since a Bruins-Rangers game on Jan. 4, 1974, according to the sports media website Awful Announcing.

A Saturday Capitals-Penguins game in January 2011 was pushed to primetime, but only because of a rain delay and a rescheduling.

The game will be played the Saturday following the Olympic Gold Medal game, and will take place the night before NBC debuts its Hockey Day in America tripleheader. It is one of six outdoor games scheduled for 2014.

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The NHL has scheduled its first regular season network primetime game in almost 40 years. http://t.co/ZVdsQ0MVeR

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 16, 2013